The Murderess – Alexandros Papadiamantis

Praxi Theatre Company, Stage A
First performance: November 9, 2011
The performance was reprised during the 2012-2013 season.
First performance: October 17, 2012

The Murderess is an extreme work. A psychological study and a denunciation. A concealed confession. A personal testimony hidden under the façade of a “social” narrative. It captures Papadiamantis’ expression at its most powerful. Building a highly restrained atmosphere, the great author focuses on the very essence of humanity, displaying irony, sarcasm, despair, harsh judgement, and profound compassion. The piece’s “theatricality” (language as speech, language as action) defines the most enigmatic yet emblematic character of Greek psychological literature: Frangogiannou, an indelibly realistic figure, open to various, even extreme, interpretations, both onstage and off. A character that moves between the feminine archetypes of murderous women found in ancient tragedy and the “hagiographies of the fallen” created by F. Dostoevsky.

A contemporary stage adaptation of this piece requires stripping away unnecessary quaintness and highlighting the raw essence that speaks about the oppression of true individual desire in the name of norms and social stereotypes, leading to rejection which, in turn, transform into antisocial, self-destructive behaviours, as abhorrent as they are devastating. Expressed at the wrong point in time, the pursuit of freedom becomes criminal self-destruction, with indignation serving as a form of suffocation. Nevertheless, the Murderess always retains her role as a symbol of feminine emancipation, even in the form of a cautionary tale.

Source: elculture.gr